Abby Larson on how she built Style Me Pretty into a respected online resource for brides-to-be

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“I like weddings that are beautiful but really, really approachable. They’re not stuffy or ostentatious,’’ says Abby Larson, founder of the Style Me Pretty blog.

Abby Larson, founder of Boston-based Style Me Pretty, hosted an event for Gilt City Boston at GrettaCole in Back Bay recently to talk about her new book and her humble blogging beginnings. Larson founded her well-curated wedding site with her husband and “tech guru,” Tait, in 2007, and since then her readership has exploded, becoming a respected online resource for all things bridal. Before she answered questions from an audience brimming with brides-to-be, wedding professionals, and just plain fans, Larson stepped aside in her sparkly silver pumps to chat.

Q. You were on the forefront of the wedding blogs. You’re like the “Pioneer Woman” of the wedding blogging community.

A. I would say there were only two or three when I first started and none of them were focusing on the editorial side of weddings. They were focused on the practical, hands-on details of planning a wedding. I thought: Why aren’t we talking about what’s being put in magazines but in an online format? I read Martha Stewart Weddings religiously, but there are three months in between issues and typically only six weddings get into each issue so there is all this cutting-room-floor inventory that is so beautiful you would cry. But there’s simply no room in the magazine. So I thought why not take those photos and put them online so brides didn’t have to wait at newsstands. That’s where we started and eventually readers started sending in photos of their own.

Q. What was the moment that you knew there was a future in your blog?

A. Well today, wedding blogging is an industry of itself. We got lucky because we got into the community really fast. My husband [who works alongside Larson as the site’s technical expert] is in software development and he knew there was value in this before we really started.

Q. Do you have any advice for young bloggers who are frustrated by a lack of readers?

A. When I started I had three readers: my husband, my mom, and my sister, literally. I remember reading a statistics page of another design blogger who said she had 5,000 page views per month and I remember sitting with my husband saying, “If only I could get to that point.” And now we get 20 million. If you keep writing and putting out really good curated content and people talk it will develop.”

Q. Style Me Pretty is big on promoting vendors with each wedding you feature — any reason for that?

A. Every party that I’ve thrown, I’ve gone straight to our vendors on our website. That’s our goal, we want to highlight local, small vendors that can sit pretty alongside big vendors that are blowing it up and they can share a face and a voice and get fair game in getting their voice out there.

Q. How does a wedding catch your eye?

A. I’m a pink girl. I always gravitate toward corals and pinks so any wedding that comes in with pink hues, I’m much more personally inclined to want to publish it. What I love about weddings now is that people aren’t subscribing to any rules anymore. There’s a sense of tradition but there’s a lot more spunk and personality in colors and moments built into the day. I like weddings that are beautiful but really, really approachable. They’re not stuffy or ostentatious.

Q. What is your best tip for brides-to-be?

A. My favorite tip is to hire a wedding planner, which sounds really cliché, but they will keep you on track and possibly save you thousands upon thousands of dollars in mistakes that women and men make when trying to plan their wedding. Planning is an industry and there’s rules and resources that you can leverage if you know how to do it right. Two is to just sit down as a couple and have that date night to figure out what you want from your wedding. It may not be what your mom wants or your grandma wants, but you need to figure out what are the most important details to you, as a couple, are — whether it’s the most amazing food ever or a band that only plays a certain type of music. Then budget to make those details sparkle.

Q. Are there any wedding trends that you’re sick of?

A. It’s all about the execution. You can see something so cliché — cupcakes, the dessert table, ombre — but if you execute correctly it’s no longer a trend: It’s a staple. It’s a design element that is going to make your wedding look beautiful. It’s all about taking those trends and putting your own style stamp on them and making them cohesively fit into your wedding.

Q. Have you seen any trends from your readers and submissions that are specific to the Boston area?

A. Boston weddings are different than the rest of the country. They’re a little bit more traditional and preppy but the brides tend to have this Kate Spade whimsy about them. It’s traditional but with spunk. It’s interesting to see how these New England brides execute.

Abby Larson’s book, “Style Me Pretty Weddings,’’ published by Potter Style, is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble store locations. Rachel Raczka can be reached at rraczka@boston.com.

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BostonGlobe.com complimentary digital access has been provided to you, without a subscription, for free starting today and ending in 14 days. After the free trial period, your free BostonGlobe.com digital access will stop immediately unless you sign up for BostonGlobe.com digital subscription. Current print and digital subscribers are not eligible for the free trial.